A Series of Short Stories
by A Feather of Pepa
Summary: Ever wonder what happens between scenes of Amulet? Well, you're at the right place... Er, STORY... WITH SHORT STORIES IN THE MIDDLE... Ah, forget it.
1. Chapter 1

Sitting cross-legged on a giant bridge in a eerie floating city, I sat looking at the starry sky. For some reason, my dreams were being haunted by my father and how he died, and I apparently found it hard to sleep without bawling my eyes out. To take my mind off of things, I reflected about what had happened a few days ago. Why had Max suddenly done just that, steal the mother crystal? He had become very close to me, almost what I could call my best friend, and then he just... used me.

A tear trickled down my cheek and turned to fog in the chilly night air. Then my mind wheeled back to when I was talking to that old man about being ready for war. I felt more scared than ever. I was wrong. I, a twelve year old red head, was not ready for such a thing. Why did dad have to die? If he didn't, I would have never have gone to this stupid world, never have gotten that blasted amulet, never have-

Another tear fell. I would have never had met my nice, reassuring friends, never have gotten self confidence, never have received such kind words of encouragement from the voice of the stone. As if sensing my sorrow, the amulet began to glow a velvet pink and floated up to my face. The magic behind the academy walls had faded, allowing me to speak to my amulet once again.

"_Young Master._" The stone's voice was particularily gentle. "_Why so glum?_" Another tear dropped into my lap.

"You don't know why."

"_Of course not._"

"Then why bother to speak to me about it?"

Silence. The stone seemed to be thinking about something, from the way the pink light is flickering. Then, "_Silas used to say something like that. He used to say, 'my friend, I appreciate your concern, I really do. But I ask you this once to leave it to myself to figure out.' But I was still worried_."

I blinked. It reminded me of that time that my mom told me that grandpa Silas locked himself away after his wife died. "Was that when great, great grandma died?"

"_Mm-hmm_."

I blinked again. Curious, I inquire, "How did she die?"

A long, uncomfortable silence stretched once again. Then the amulet broke it by saying, "_The elves found the portal into the other world and invaded their home. Silas fought them off, but then... then Lugar's great grandfather had found Azuli hiding under their bed and..._" It's voice shook, so I finished it's sentence.

"She was murdured." I felt surprise prickling in my skin; I did not stop once and think about whether the stone had true emotions or not. But I guess if you were to stand by and watch someone get murdured, you might as well feel some stress collecting in your throat. "That's terrible." I whispered. The amulet bobbed up and down as though it were nodding. Suddenly, I lunged out and grabbed the Amulet, giving it a tight hug against my chest.

"_Someone's coming, Emily_." It warned, turning back into an ordinary necklace.

"What are you doing out here?" A familiar voice broke the silence, and I turned around to see Leon stalking up to meet me at the edge of the bridge.

Unable to think of an excuse right away, I turned back around and allowed my eyes to rest on a tree that was so dangerously close to a cliff. I let the tears form again. "Nightmare. What are _you_ doing up here?"

"Hmmm." Without answering my retort, he took a seat beside me and followed my gaze. "I noticed that when we were at those mountains before we came to Ceilis..." The fox cleared his throat. "That you were looking at the same type of tree." I felt a flicker of sorrow pass through me, but to cover it up I glared at him defiantly.

"So?" I seethed, disappointed when I knew that he'd seen the grief in my eyes.

He turned his head toward me. "What is wrong? Every time that I asked about it, you always seemed so livid." Sighing, he rubbed the back of his head. "You know, if you keep this up, you'd probably end up like _me_."

"Really?" My muscles loosened and I relaxed completely, up for a story for the second time that night. "What do you mean, exactly?" I definately didn't want to end up with fur and a snout.

Chuckling, Leon shook his head as though he were reading my thoughts. Then he told me, "When I was younger, sort of your age, and when my dad died, I kept to myself and yelled at everyone for trying to get details on what exactly happened. Then my mother one day told me, 'Tomorrow will follow any route, but your promise is today.' I didn't know what that was supposed to mean, but when the next person to ask me what became of my father came along, I knew perfectly well."

"It meant, 'tomorrow is brand-new, but today is when you can change.'" He chose the words carefully, aware that I was beginning to sob. Swiveling his ears toward me, he took my hand. "What's wrong?" He asked softly.

I wiped the tears away and explained through clenched teeth, "M-my father, h-h-he..." I began to cry again but forced out the words anyway. "He d-d-died of a-a car crash-sh. W-we..." Leon listened intently. "We crashed into a t-tree like this one." Gesturing to the tree that I was looking at before, I started up. "Mom and I g-g-got out, b-but my dad's l-legs w-w-were s-stuck behind the w-wheel." Bawling my eyes out, I shook uncontrollably. "The t-t-tree loosened and fell, taking the car with it." Still shaking, I hiccuped and rubbed my eyes. "I-I m-miss him so much."

Hugging me tightly, Leon pulled me up and led me back to my home, where Mom and Navin were staying with the rest of the group. Once I was back in my bedroom, I yawned and tucked myself in, but not before listening to my stone murmur, "_So _that's_ what you were crying about_." As it's voice morphed into my dreams, and I suddenly found myself standing in my dream in front of the humaniod Amulet.

It did nothing but smile at me, so I tackled it with another hug. Taken by surprise, the black shape got disoriented for a moment, then pulled itself together. "You see, Emily? There are friends and family everywhere."

I smile up at it. "Yeah."


	2. Water Balloons

Book: Amulet One

Prompt: Nothing.

Chapter Two: Prank on the Amulets

Two lone figures sat patiently around the moonlit pool of starry water, still though shivering. Rain was pouring down around them, lightening cracking far away. One of the creatures, a dark shape that was slightly humanoid, sighed and gave up, running it's unusually long fingers through it's thick, flowing hair.

"Azlyn, just wait a bit longer, all right?" The other shape pleaded, this one much taller than the first. It's spikey head top was sleek and pasted on his head from the rain. "After all, I am sure that the others will come soon. They know this is the most impotant meeting in the Amulets' history." Sighing, he shook his head to clear the raindrops from his hair.

Azlyn gave him the death glare, but could not bring herself to argue with her leader and angrily shrugged the impatience away. "Fine, Aalok. But you should better hope that they come soon enough, as we were here for-"

"I apologize that I am late!" A voice yelled.

In the distance, a sleek white figure flew as fast as she could toward the other two. Her golden designs that were written neatly all over her face cleared up as she closed the distance between them. And she stood before Aalok and Azyln, panting. "You do not want to know what took me so long." This amulet spirit was the youngest, possibly matching the age of sixteen in human years. After her fit of catching her breath, she stood up perfectly straight and questioned her leader, Aalok. "Are we to begin?"

"Not yet, Araceli." He promised in reply. After a tiny moment of silence, he explained why they were waiting. She nodded in understanding and sat down on her disoriented knees.

"Phew!" She sighed, using some of her power to shield herself from the rain. In other words, she created an umbrella. Then she grinned at Azyln as the fourth, fiveth and sixth members joined the meeting. Then, at last, the one amulet spirit they were waiting for arrived. Emily's. "What took you so long, comrad?" Araceli inquired just as Xylon joined them. She lay on her stomach while tilting her head at him.

"Emily at last recieved the amulet. I was needed to warn her about the danger in her basement."

"Soooo?"

"'Soooo' what?"

"Why does it matter? She could have figured it out on her own."

"... And then she could be half dead by the time she does."

"That's her problem."

"Sometimes I must wonder if you are truely on the Amulet Council..."

"Sometimes I must wonder if you are smart enough to _be_ on the Amulet Council!"

Aalok shook his head at the two arguing siblings. "Enough, my friends. We are here as truce." Xylon smirked at his younger sister and payed full attention to their leader. Clearing his throat, Aalok began his 'important' (As Xylon calls it) speech. "My friends, my _siblings_," He added with a glare at the previous aguing ones. "We gather here today for the testing and training of the girl, Emily Hiyas-"

"Emily Hayes." Xylon corrected.

"Emily Hayes," The spirit continued with a nod of acknowledgement at the other. "In hopes that she might be the one to fight the elf king. Though, since we all fear that her age might be the only thing stopping her..."

* * *

"Shh!" A much younger Max whispered to Ronin and Pierce, who were both the age of thirteen. They were all dreaming, but for all they knew, they could be an illusion to each other. The boy sat on the ground, overlooking rocks at the Amulets gathered. "There's mine!" He hissed in excitement, pointing to the one with a bluish design on his face. Ronin glanced over his shoulder and nodded.

"The white one there is mine." She told them both, "She kind of stands out, doesn't she?" It was true; the only white Amulet spirit there was Araceli, whom was, to Ronin, the very special one. Crossing her arms, she said to Pierce, "Tell us which one yours is."

"Okay." The dark skinned child agreed, and pointed out the tallest. "He's the one." Aalok had decided to mentor Pierce himself after an incident that had almost killed himself. The worst part was, he'd caused it. "After this, I need to head back. Okay?" Added Pierce to the wide-eyed ten year old Max.

Nodding, Max stared once again at the Amulets. "We'll need some help." Almost on que, two dark creatures descended from the south. The brown haired boy smiled and waved at them, uncautious as to whether or not the others had seen. "Hey, Corentin and Kandice!" He called, hoping to catch the Amulet pupils' attention.

"Hello." Shyly, one of the apprentices waved back at him. They closed the distance between them and sighed, rubbing their heads. "I can't believe we're doing this." Muttered the same one to have greeted the humans. "We are going to be in soooo much trouble. What if we're caught?"

"Then we'll make a run for it, doofus." The other said, punching his sister in the right arm. "Kandice, since when were you such a worrywort?"

"Since we planned to throw waterballoons at our leader, Corentin."

Max and Ronin both grinned. "Shall we do it?"

The twins looked up from the scuffle. "Oh. Yeah!"

And so...

"Ready, set..." Max whispered, keeping a keen eye on Xylon and Aalok. "GO!" He yelled, running out from their cover with the others.

"CHARGE!" All five children-human and amulet- screeched, three splitting up to tackle Xylon while two others took on Aalok. Araceli screamed and the others dodged out of the way as the children hit both marks.

Soaked, Xylon grabbed Max and Pierce by the back of their collars and lifted them close to his face. Ronin stared up at them, wide-eyed with fear. "What part of 'do not dream about our meeting place tonight' do you not understand?" He snarled, looking both guilty children in the eye. When they looked down at his feet instead, he sighed and let them drop to them ground.

Aalok, meanwhile, howled at the scared-to-death children and scooped them up the same way. "DO NOT EVER DO THAT AGAIN!" He yelled at the Amulet twins, livid.

Max was looking down at his feet as they were all scolded by Xylon.

"What were you three _thinking_? Insanity must have claimed your minds, as I have never seen _anyone_ do anything so _stupid_!"

"Actually..." The brunette boy interveined. Giving him a cold look, Xylon allowed him to talk. "Please, don't blame them. It was my idea. I heard from my stone that Aalok was going to make you hurt Emily. I don't want anyone hurt, so I made Ronin and Pierce help me interrupt the leader. Please, don't hurt the new stonekeeper!"

To Max's relief, Xylon's face softened. "Max, I would not interfere with the word of Aalok. After all, whatever he says is law to us. Though..." He sighed and looked away. "I do not wish to bring harm to her either. Aalok, however, says that to be tested... she would have to go through those difficulties of being a stonekeeper. Even if it means that I have to try to take over her completely."

Horrified, all three humans stared up at him with enormous eyes. "No!" They shouted in unision, anger carved neatly into their faces. Xylon shook his head in confusion.

"It will not happen anytime soon, so you mustn't worry."

Letting it go (for now), they switched their angry expression to hopeful. But hopeful for the all-too-wrong reason.

"Can we throw more water ballons at you?"

"... No."


	3. Singin'

Book: Amulet Three

Prompt: My Imagination...?

Chapter 3: I Didn't Sign Up For Being An Artist.  
(long title, I know)

Navin, with a piece of paper and a small pen, finished up the lyrics to Emily's favourite song. Having pitied his sister, he had to be optimistic for her and attempt to cheer her up for the past few years that their dad died.

They currently were stalling at the captain's friends' rest placey. Thingy. Majigy. Whatevery. And Navin had took all his time to remember the words that Em used to sing with a laughing face. Now, depression was the only thing that sat still on her face, soliding out any pride or contention that might be hidden. Navin was about to change that.

Smirking, Navin made his way to the living room where everyone else was and handed the paper to his sister. Karen wasn't the only one overlooking his shoulder curiously.

Emily took the paper tentively and blushed when she read it. "Navin!" She hissed, her face turning as red as a cherry.

Her brother only smiled and whispered back at her. "You used to sing this before dad died. Sing it again." Leon's ears swiveled toward him but he did not look up from the book he was reading. Though his face was consumed in his book, his eyes seemed like they were trying to digest the information. Navin continued, "You let his death stop your singing. You thought you shouldn't be happy ever again because you were shamed of thinking about it. Well, there's nothing wrong with singing. And there's nothing wrong with being happy."

At these words, Karen began to sob. Emily's eyes sparkled with tears but chose not to show it. Instead, she grinned. "I didn't sign up for being an artist, or a singer. You know that."

"You don't sign up for singing. It's free."

She laughed and shook her head. "I don't sing."

"You will."

Sighing, Emily read the paper out loud, bluntly.

"You would not believe your eyes_-_"

Navin interrupted. "Sing it with _meaning_!"

Glaring at him, Emily bitterly did what he said. Closing her eyes and ignoring the stares she received, the red head continued.  
_  
"If ten million fireflies _  
_Lit up the world as I fell asleep."_

Slowly but surely, she began to smile_._

_"'Cause they fill the open air,  
And leave tear drops everywhere  
You'd think me rude,  
But I would just stand and  
Stare..."_

She cleared her throat.

_"I'd like to make myself believe  
That planet Earth turns,  
Slowly  
It's hard to say if I'd rather stay  
Awake when I'm asleep.  
'Cause everything is never as it seems."_

Emily seemed now oblivious to everyone around her as she lay back and laughed.

_"'Cause I get a thousand hugs  
From ten thousand lightning bugs  
As they try to teach me how to dance  
A foxtrot above my head  
A sock hop beneath my bed  
A disco ball is just hanging by a thread."_

Leon smiled a little when he heard the part 'a foxtrot above my head.' Flicking his tail, he continued on in absorbing his book's information.

_"I'd like to make myself believe  
That planet Earth turns  
Slowly  
It's hard to say if I'd rather stay  
Awake when I'm asleep  
'Cause everything is never as it seems  
When I fall asleep!"_

_"Leave my door open just a crack,  
'Cause I feel like such a ischomiac  
Why do I tire of counting sheep,  
When I'm far too tired to fall asleep?"_

Emily held the paper so tight that it began to rip. She ran out of the lyrics, and tried to glance back to dicover that she had ripped the paper right through that last bit of the song. And as soon as she look up, she realized with a blush that Karen, Navin, Trellis, and Luger were giving her an odd look. She frowned. "You know, staring is really rude."

Blinking, her mom shook her head and laughed a little. "Honey, we're just surprised."

"Why's that?"

Leon answered for Karen. "Because we have never seen you laugh before. Every face that you have pulled-it's either related to anger or seriousness."

"Or strange insanity like when you tried to kill me." Trellis muttered under his breath. Karen gave him a puzzled look.

"Emily, you tried to kill him?"

"Uuh. N-no, he's just joking. _Right_?" She said with a tiny glare at the elf. He nodded, amused.

"Right."


	4. Sir LEEERRROOOOYYYY

Book: Amulet Fourish Three

Prompt: Nothing

Leroy Joke

As soon as everything was loaded onto Max's ship, Emily hesitantly followed Leon, Navin and her mother, boarding carefully and mistrustfully. She was completely nervous, apart from the fact that she had just beat the living crap out of an elf that was completely insane. But she was going to enter ceilis, a real live floating city! Her nervousness was pushed away and butterflies in her stomach settled instead.

They all climbed the ladder and as they did so, Karen kissed Emily's head and patted her shoulder before walking with Navin to another area. Emily stood by the railing as the airship took off and, dazedly, watched as the beautiful blue light opened up into a portal.

"You ought to get some rest before we face the Council."

A voice interrupted her daydreaming, hard and almost unfamiliar. Max had dropped in to say hello. Turning her head at him, Em yawned. "Hola." She sighed.

"'Hola'?"

"It means hello in forgein language."

"I see."

An awkward silence stretched between the stranger and Emily. "So..." Emily mumbled, breaking the silence. Max glanced at her questionally, sensing an inquirie. He was right, indeed. Emily took a death breath and, "You were saying?" Suggesting to repeat what he said might've been the only good option because she wasn't listening to him before.

"I said, 'you ought to get some rest before we face the council.'"

"I don't want to sleep."

He looked her over harshly. "Then that's too bad. Duncan," He called, catching a glimpse of the white-haired man ordering Leon to 'exit the deck as it is unsafe.' Glaring, Leon crossed his arms and glanced at Emily, and then both exchanged exagerrated looks. Meanwhile, Duncan gave no notice of Leon's glare and walked right over, the fox following.

"What can I do for you, sir?" Duncan inquired, with a tiny stare at Emily. Leon twitched his ears and gave Emily the look of, _'Okay, what'd you do?_' She stared at him. _'Nothing_.' He guessed. She nodded.

"What are you two _doing_?"

Emily whipped around and glared at Max, realizing she had had no excuse. "We are... Um, sign languaging...?" With a puzzled look at Leon, she shrugged. "Doesn't matter. What matters _is_-" She gave Duncan and Max both an effective glare, "-I am _not_ a baby. I can say when I'm tired, and I can say when I go to sleep. _Got it_?"

The man and child stared at each other, then back to Emily. "Take her in." Max said, waving his hand at her dismissively. Duncan stepped forward to seize her arms, but Leon flung out his sword and pointed it at Duncan's throat. Wincing, the elder backed away.

"You don't want to do that." Leon spat, sheathing his sword. "Lay a finger on her and find yourself beating him-" The livid fox pointed at Max, "-up." Emily stood there, shaking. She'd _never_ seen Leon that defensive before. But then she recalled telling him about her mistrust of these people. "Anyway," He continued more calmly, "I will escort her."

About to protest, Emily found Leon's hand slapping over her mouth. Sighing inwardly she followed him inside the airship and through the halls, then found herself inside a blank white room. A bed was in the center, same blank patterns. Leon was at her side. "You know, you should not cause fights like that. These people are here to help you."

"Then why'd you threaten them?" She retorted.

"Well, for one; I knew you didn't like them, and two; there's something amist about that Duncan." He replied, backing out of the room. "Don't let the Alledia monsters bite." Smirking, he slid from sight and scurried down back through the halls.

Fortunately, young Emily was fast enough to shout, "Well ex-cuse me, sir Leroy!" Leon's footsteps paused and then kept running.

"My name is Le-ON. Not Le-ROY." Called the fox, sounding a little irritated.

"I. Know. Take a joke!" Emily snapped back.

"What is so funny about that?"

Emily paused. What _was_ so funny about that? "Uh... Sir Leroy your FACE!" When she heard Leon's feet retracing his steps, she swallowed. _Oh God_.

... Not much is known about what happened nexted... But if you've ever stood on a sail floating in the sky, and just insulted a self-proclaimed bounty hunter, you can guess but never know...


	5. Bite Me

Book: Amulet Zero

Prompt: A movie called "Ella Enchanted"

Bite Me.

Growing up as a child, Emily could never see the difference between sarcasm and seriousness. Navin couldn't either, but he was only in Junior Kindergarden and the complexities of being human didn't help him understand his sibling either. So in result, they disliked each other constantly. Which such a thing led them to a miraculous understanding later on, so this is their story;

"Hey Emily, do you want to go play on the swings?" Natasha whispered in her friend's ear, gulping as she realized that some kids in her class were staring. And it was _creepy_. It had come to Em's notice as well, and quickly agreed. Both took hands and stood up for the grass patch to make their way over to the swings. _Whoosh_! Another girl stepped in front of them and glared at Natasha. Her fiery brown eyes matched her brunette hair, but her face was other than kind.

"You realize that everyone knows what you're doing?" The girl snapped, crossing her arms in a rude manner.

"Ummm... they realize that we're playing?" The blond head replied, pretending to be puzzled to what Sarah was trying to say. Her blue eyes sparkled with fear for none other than her new friend; Sarah makes her mark on everyone, claiming that only she should be the first to have a crack at the new kids. Natasha knew nothing of what she says to them, only that the children run home to their parents, sobbing that they never want to go to school again.

That said, she wasn't prepared to let the bully break Emily.

Sarah sniffed and frowned, rolling her eyes at Natasha. "No, you stupid blond. Don't you remember the _rules_?"

"Rules?" Emily asked, switching her gaze to Sarah from Natasha. "What're you guys talking about?" From what she heard from the teacher, there were no rules apart from no cheating, no yelling, no standing on top of the chairs, and... no picking your nose and wiping it on someone else. But she was in grade four! She already knew those! Unless, of course, the children made up their own rules on how the playground is to be played on.

And that was exactly what Sarah was talking about. Natasha fearfully raised her eyes to meet Sarah's, stood like a statue and slowly backed away, hiding her tears. "I'm so sorry, Em." She whispered, breaking into a run. Emily gave the impression of uninterest by crossing her arms with slitted eyelids. But the bully, who had smiled in satisfaction, frowned immediately when Emily's brother came to pester her _again_.

"Hey, Em! Isn't this cool? Look, I founded an airship on the ground!" Excitedly, he turned Emily towards him and showed her his treasure. She only cocked an eyebrow with the slightest of interest.

"Go away, you little twerp. Me and her were trying to have a conversation." That was Sarah.

Emily glared at the brunette. "Actually, just you. You scared off my friend in order to do so." she clenched her fists. "And no one but me is allowed to talk to my brother like that, you understand?" Sarah stuck her nose in the air, mimicking Em's fiery attitude.

Then she looked emily straight in the eye and sneered, "_Bite me_."

..._What_?

Emily stood there in thought. _Why does she want to be bitten?_ She pondered. She shrugged. The best thing to do is to give her what she wants. Taking sarah's arm, (with her protesting) Emily smiled at the girl. "Well, if that's what you want..." She opened her jaws and bit down hard. Sarah's scream filled the playground and everyone immediately turned to look.

Navin stared at Em in surprise. "Are we really alloweded to do that in this school?" He asked eagerly. Emily released the brunette girl's arm and then Sarah fled, taking her bleeding arm with her. Then Navin gave his big sister a goofy grin. "In that case, I would bited you everyday. But how come you didn't use the stare? Huh? How come? Hey, is that a teacher? I think you should runned." _Whoopty freaking do!_ Emily thought while rolling her eyes, _she told me to bite her! _

"No Navin, I think _you_ should go now." Em answered, taking matters into her own hands once again. And if you thought Sarah's situation was messy, this was going to be _messier_. Navin scurried off hastily as the teacher on duty arrived with a sour face. He clearly wanted nothing to do with the situation.

"A girl was telling me you were trying to bite her arm off... Is that true?" He asked the red head. Emily looked at her feet, thinking about what she should do. Then it came to her!

Her mother nick-named Emily the Stare Master because she was able to hold a creepy gaze without flinching, laughing nor blinking. Eventually, it would scare another adult off, which was partly the reason why Karen wasn't able to find another partner. So Emily raised her head and gave her best creeper stare, which had something to do with her eyes opened wide and her crooked smile.

Mr. Talego blinked, taken aback by her strange response. Why was she smiling? Would she not be more ashamed, afraid or angry? A child's usual response would be to start blubbering and tell the truth; it was proven in phycology class in his univeristy. But, if there was no truth to tell_-_O-kay, this stare's starting to get to gave him the overwhelming cold waves going up and down his spine. What should he do? In fact, the only thing he could think of was making a hasty escape.

It was starting to work, Emily realized. But if she didn't move soon, the effect was going to wear off. Keeping her face still, she took a step toward him, and then he took a step away. _YEEESSSS!_ Emily silently squealed. It was getting to the point where he didn't stand a chance. Her smile increased. "You're in a trap," she taunted. "The men and women who tried to scold me ended up in the hospital because of a 'mysterious injury to the eye'. If you keep looking, you'll be blind."

Now, Derek Talego was not the most convinced of men when it came to children, but this was definitely no ordinary child. Two choices now: run or be blind. Run... or be _blind_. And was that blond girl over there-Natasha-laughing at him? Couldn't she see that this was no ordinary joke? Run... be blind...

...

...

...He chose to run.


End file.
